Posts Tagged ‘UFC on Fuel TV’

UFC on Fuel TV 3 took place on Tuesday, May 15th from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Six fights streamed on facebook and six fights were shown on Versus. Nearly every fight was exciting from start to finish on the main card, and the main event featured a fight of the year candidate.

Chan Sung Jung submits Dustin Poirier
Is it possible for Chan Sung Jung to not be in an exciting fight? The reason he has the nickname the “Korean Zombie” is due to the amount of punishment he can take and the fact that he keeps coming forward. Dustin Poirier was able to dish out his attacks, but in the end it wasn’t enough.

The first round both fighters decided to take the other down, but it was Jung who was able to score several elbows to the forehead of Poirier. The elbows were damaging, in that they cut Poirier up and blood started to trickle down his face.

The second round Jung again worked on top of Poirier after a takedown. Jung landed elbow after elbow and had a great punch as he faked an ankle throw and instead threw a punch. He nearly missed with a spinning backfist, but then transitioned it to a flying knee and uppercuts. The crowd went wild as Jung got the mount, but it was a high mount and he struggled to land damaging blows. Poirier tried to escape, but Jung again countered with submissions. He transitioned from a triangle to armbar back to triangle and then again to armbar. Poirier escaped and was on top but Jung finished the round with a very tight triangle.

The third round Jung started to slow down. Poirier was able to turn the fight into a more technical standup fight for the first half. Jung went for a takedown, got it, and landed several punches before Poirier was able to stand up. Jung landed a big knee, and both fighters looked like they were starting to gas. As the round was ending, Poirier was looking more like a zombie as Jung was landing punches and knees but kept coming forward and throwing with bad intention.

The fourth round was a first for both fighters as neither had been in what is dubbed the championship rounds. Jung landed a flying knee and Poirier shot for a takedown immediately. Jung defended and used his defense to secure a D’Arce choke. Poirier was in a lot of trouble and tapped just before being choked out.

Amir Sadollah edges out Jorge Lopez
In what was a battle of two very evenly matched fighters, Amir Sadollah edged out Jorge Lopez with a split decision. Sadollah started out slow, allowing Lopez to land leg kicks. Lopez decided to not trade with Sadollah and instead wanted to get the fight to the ground. After a failed takedown attempt, Lopez switched for a slightly different single leg and was able to elevate Sadollah. Once on the ground, a big elbow from Lopez landed before Sadollah was able to get up.

Lopez tried to take Sadollah down again in the second, wanting to capitalize on what worked well for him in the first round. Sadollah defended well, forcing Lopez to give up his neck. Sadollah recognized it and nearly finished the fight with a standing guillotine. As he transitioned to sink the choke in deeper, Lopez used a beautiful transition to escape from the submission. After the failed attempt, Sadollah was able to land kicks, and did enough to earn the round.

The third round, Lopez seemed to be the aggressor, landing punches and working for a takedown. But after spending most of his energy to get a takedown, Sadollah was able to land what he wanted to. As the ref stood the two up due to a lack of action, Sadollah was clearly the fresher fighter as Lopez was sluggish to rise to his feet. Sadollah capitalized and landed a flying knee and worked to get Lopez’s back as time expired. It was enough damage for two judges to score the fight Sadollah, the local crowd, not exactly thrilled with it.

Donald Cerrone puts on a clinic over Jeremy Stephens
Jeremy Stephens has tremendous power in his hands, but Donald Cerrone had no problem standing and trading with him. Cerrone who has been notorious in the past for starting slow, did just that against Stephens. But this time it seemed as if it was intentional as Cerrone’s pace seemed to switch from slow to fast from combo to combo.

Utilizing fantastic footwork, Cerrone found his range with devastating combos. Unlike many fighters who are content to land just a 1-2 combo, Cerrone instead switched his attacks up throwing varying punches before landing a leg kick, or leading with a kick and following it up with several punches.

Stephens left eye was hurt by the end of the first round, and by the end of the fight, it was nearly swollen shut. Cerrone decided to switch things up after landing almost at will and took Stephens down to the ground. Stephens landed his most significant strikes with several elbows to the top of Cerrone’s head. The elbows opened up a couple of cuts, but nothing that would warrant a stoppage from the doctor.

Greg Jackson told Cerrone in between rounds to just have fun and that is what it looked like. Cerrone was able to land combo after combo and then evade nearly everything Stephens threw at him.

For Cerrone it was a welcome back to what he does best, and he looked like the Cowboy that had put together a six fight win streak and nothing like he did against Diaz.

Yves Jabouin nearly finished Jeff Hougland
Every now and then a fight is marred by the ref and fans will end up all up in arms about it. The bantamweight battle between Yves Jabouin and Jeff Hougland will likely be one of those fights. After dropping Hougland with a spinning back kick in the first round, Hougland was visibly hurt and was in the fetal position. The ref looked to be stepping in to stop the fight, and inadvertently blocked the way for Jabouin to finish the fight right away.

Hougland needs to be recognized for his ability to recover quickly as every time Jabouin looked to finish the fight after dropping Hougland, somehow Hougland would recover. The combination of Hougland threatening with submissions, and Jabouin happy to stay within the guard of Hougland to try and finish gave Hougland the time to recover.

Hougland’s strategy was to stay outside and use his reach advantage, but it proved to be a flawed one. Jabouin utilized his speed advantage to get just inside the range and Hougland, while resilient wasn’t able to do much damage.

Jabouin’s constant pressure and ability to drop Hougland with body shots was extremely impressive and easily won him the unanimous decision.

Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado delight fans for fifteen minutes
The opening round between Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado was arguably one of the hardest to score in 2012. Pokrajac took Maldonado down in the opening seconds and worked damaging ground and pound at times looking close to finishing the fight. But Maldonado was able to escape, and once standing, started to find his range on Pokrajac. A series of short punches hurt Pokrajac and Maldonado was teeing off with peppering punches. Pokrajac weathered the storm and even returned fire with big knees that Maldonado just seemed to brush off.

Rounds two and three were even more exciting. Maldonado connected with punch after punch and body shot after body shot, buckling Pokrajac. But Pokrajac was able to stay standing, and as noted by Jon Anik, still has yet to be knocked down inside the octagon.

Pokrajac in the third started to land and seemed the faster of the two light heavyweights. Maldonado kept pushing forward, but seemed to eat more and more leather. With less than thirty seconds left, the two went blow for blow and the crowd loved every minute of it.

Tom Lawlor makes quick work of Jason MacDonald
Tom Lawlor was celebrating his 29th birthday as he entered the cage for his fight against Jason MacDonald. While sporting both a height and reach disadvantage to MacDonald, the gameplan was to press forward and work inside.

Early in the fight it was MacDonald who decided to try and test Lawlor’s wrestling with a takedown attempt but he failed. The two fighters split, and then started to find their range.

Lawlor backed MacDonald up against the cage and he missed with a right jab, dodged a jab from MacDonald, then connected with a straight left. The punch buckled MacDonald’s knees and Lawlor smartly backed up, planted his feet and then threw a finishing right hand that knocked MacDonald out cold. MacDonald fell face first into the canvas, and Lawlor was able to celebrate not only his birthday, but a victory as well.

Kicking off the main card of UFC on Fuel TV 3, middleweights Tom Lawlor and Jason MacDonald are set to do battle. The event takes place on Tuesday, May 15 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia airing live on Fuel TV.

Lawlor became a fan favorite in the UFC with his weigh-in and walkout parodies. While the costumes and skits got him fans, it hasn’t panned out for the middleweight inside the octagon losing three of his last four. His losses come at the hands of Aaron Simpson, Joe Doerksen, and Chris Weidman while his victory came over Patrick Cote.

MacDonald who was dubbed the “Ultimate Fighter” killer early on in his UFC career, was cut from the organization in 2009 after suffering back-to-back losses. He put together a 3-1 record after being released, earning his way back to the UFC. Like Lawlor, he hasn’t fared too well, going just 1-2 in his recent stint losing to John Salter and Alan Belcher.

Both fighters are likely on the verge of being released should they fail to earn a victory in the fight. MacDonald has experience on his side, bringing a massive 40 fights with him.

In order for Lawlor to win, he will need to overwhelm MacDonald early on much like several of MacDonald’s opponents who hold victories over him. MacDonald will try to weather the storm and then turn up his intensity as Lawlor has shown to decrease in speed as the fight plays out.

Barring a quick TKO victory, this fight will probably end up going the full fifteen minutes with MacDonald winning the majority of the time and thus earning a unanimous decision, 29-28.

The wheels are aligned, and the UFC’s partnership with Fox and their other channels is in full speed. On Tuesday, May 15th, the UFC returns to the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia for the third installment of UFC on Fuel TV. While the main card will air live on Fuel TV, the six preliminary fights will air via Facebook stream.

Kicking off the night of action, Alex Soto will take on late replacement Francisco Rivera. Soto is entering the fight off a quick knockout lsos to Michael McDonald at UFC 139 in November of 2011. He will need a victory in order to keep his spot on the UFC’s bantamweight roster. Rivera was just officially announced on May 7th, and has little time to prepare for Soto. Rivera has fought twice for Zuffa, losing to Erik Koch at WEC 52 and to Reuben Duran at the TUF 13 finale. He has since put together a two-fight win streak under the Tachi banner.

In a loser leaves the UFC, Jeff Curran takes on Johnny Eduardo. Curran returned to the UFC in October of 2011 against scott Jorgensen. Jorgensen was able to take Curran down and survive his guard, snapping a two-fight win streak for Big Frog. Eduardo will have been away from the cage for nine months after his unanimous decision loss to Raphael Assuncao. Both fighters have been informed, should they lose, they will be cut.

Rafael Dos Anjos finds himself in a difficult situation against Kamal Shalorus. Dos Anjos has struggled with fighters who have a good wrestling base and Shalorus fits that bill. Shalorus is on a two-fight losing skid and knowing a third loss could spell the end of his UFC career, will likely try to take Dos Anjos down and earn the victory there.

TJ Grant is unfortunately a very streaky fighter in the UFC division. Having gone 4-3 inside the octagon, winning one, then losing one, he’s on the wrong side of this situation against Carlo Prater. Prater is coming off his DQ victory over Erick Silva at UFC 142 where Silva punched him repeatedly in the back of the head. Prater got caught early, and Grant will likely want to implement a similar game plan.

Brad Tavares suffered the first loss of his career at UFC 132 in losing a unanimous decision to Aaron Simpson. The loss snapped a seven-fight win streak for Tavares. Standing across from him will be Dongi Yang who has gone just 1-2 inside the octagon. His lone win came over Rob Kimmons, while his two losses were to Chris Camozzi and Court McGee.

Finalizing the preliminary card, Marcus LeVesseur takes on Cody McKenzie. LeVesseur makes his UFC debut after compiling a three-fight win streak. McKenzie has won nearly every one of his fights by guillotine choke but has suffered back-to-back losses to Yves Edwards and Vagner Rocha. If the former Ultimate Fighter contestant wants to remain employed by the UFC, he will need to return to his winning ways.

Bantamweight fighters T.J. Dillashaw and Walel Watson are likely fighting for their UFC career at UFC on Fuel TV 1. The event takes place on Wednesday February 15th at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska.

Dillashaw was a member of the season 14 Ultimate Fighter. He surprised many by defeating Matt Jaggers to earn his entry into the house. From there he was selected as part of Team Bisping. Dillashaw defeated Roland Delorme and Dustin Pague to earn his way to the finals.

At the finale he made his UFC debut against John Dodson. Dodson stunned everyone with his technical knockout victory over Dillashaw spoiling Dillashaw’s plans to be the next Ultimate Fighter.

Watson meanwhile is one-and-one in his UFC career. Making his debut at UFC on Versus 6, Watson made a splash on the bantamweight division with his quick finish over Joseph Sandoval. He needed just under ninety seconds to earn the TKO victory.

In his second UFC fight, he took on Yves Jabouin at UFC 140. The fight was extremely close with either the first or second round being able to be scored in Watson’s favor. The final round of the fight was clearly Watson’s and it was left to the judges. Only one judge scored the fight for Watson, with the other two giving Jabouin the split decision victory.

Bantamweights are a hard breed to predict. Due to their size, speed, and stamina it is more rare for a finish with strikes from them. Their punches have to be that much more precise and their ground game that much more complete. In what could be the difference maker between the two fighters could be their conditioning. I am going to predict that Dillashaw wins the unanimous decision and it is the fight of the night.